Retail market indicators

In our monitoring of the retail energy market for gas and electricity, we collect and analyse a vast range of data. Our retail market indicators give a snapshot of this monitoring. They draw from a comprehensive framework which underpins our ongoing monitoring, including our annual update on the retail energy markets in Great Britain. You can view these updates in the related publications section below. 

These market indicators and data are not intended for use or to be relied on for any commercial purposes. View copyright and disclaimer.

If you have feedback on the indicators, please contact us.

There were 17 active suppliers in the domestic gas and electricity retail markets as of June 2026. This consisted of 16 suppliers active in both gas and electricity and 1 in electricity, with no exits during the second quarter of 2026.

In 2025, during Q2 2025, the number of active domestic suppliers fell from 21 to 18. This reflected one supplier exit and the removal of suppliers that were subsequently confirmed as no longer operating in the domestic sector. There were no entries or exits in Q3 2025. In Q4 2025, one further supplier exited the market, reducing the total number of active domestic suppliers to 17. 

In either Q1 or Q2 2026, 17 suppliers continued to operate in the domestic market due to no supplier entries or exits.

Increases in geopolitical hostilities were the primary driver for price increases in the first half of September. Prices hit conflict and multi-year highs in the second week of September as a result of three conflicts: a lack of any ceasefire between the US and Iran over Hormuz shipping; an escalation in hostilities between Saudi-backed forces and Houthi rebels in Yemen, including strikes on a key oil pipeline that cuts across Saudi Arabia; and a resurgence in strikes in the Russia-Ukraine conflict, with key pieces of energy infrastructure being hit on both sides of the conflict. Risk premiums reached new highs before unwinding somewhat at the end of the month as these conflicts appeared to stabilise with reports of more tankers completing exit transits of the Strait of Hormuz and prices falling back in the last week of September. An outage to the IUK pipeline with Belgium, coupled with warmer temperatures, reduced gas demand to below seasonal norms which in turn helped to increase European storage injection rates. It now looks likely that Europe will meet its amended target of 75% fullness by the 1 November deadline, although levels are still low for some specific countries. Power prices tended to track gas prices with fluctuations in prompt markets as wind levels varied week-to-week.

For more detailed updates on wholesale prices visit Wholesale market indicators | Ofgem.

In September 2026, the average number of fixed tariffs on offer decreased slightly compared with August 2026. Around 80% of these offers were available to the whole market rather than exclusive to specific customers, this represents a rise of 13% from the month prior (70%). Additionally, on average 25% of the tariffs available were priced lower than the price cap for 1st July 2026 to 30th September 2026, though this represents a 30% drop from the month prior.

The average fixed tariff was priced at £1,815, £123 more than the previous month figure of £1,692.

The average price of SVTs with large legacy suppliers for a typical dual fuel customer paying with direct remained at £1,663 which is aligned with the current price cap for the period 1 July to 30 September. The market cheapest tariff remained at £1,499. The cheapest tariff basket remained broadly unchanged at around £1,583 in September 2026. See methodology for information on how the cheapest tariff basket is calculated.

The differential between the average price of SVTs and the market cheapest remained the same at £164. The differential between the average price of SVTs for the large legacy suppliers and the cheapest tariff basket remained at similar levels at £80 in September 2026.

The update of all profit and average bill indicators based on Consolidated Segmental Statements (CSS) has been paused. Only three large domestic legacy suppliers (British Gas, EDF and Scottish Power) and one non-domestic supplier (SSE) had submitted a CSS under the regulation before consultation in 2023. This information was insufficient to generate market representative statistics. A review of the CSS obligation is now completed and will expand CSS reporting to most of the domestic and non-domestic market. This will apply to supplier financial accounts for 2023 onwards with publication 10 months after the company’s financial year end. We intend to resume the publication of these indicators as soon as new data becomes available.  

Read Reviewing the Consolidated Segmental Statements – our decision for more information. 

Read Energy companies’ Consolidated Segmental Statements (CSS) for more details. 

The Market Stabilisation Charge was a temporary measure in place from 14 April 2022 to 31 March 2024 which required all domestic suppliers acquiring a domestic customer to pay a charge to the losing supplier when wholesale prices fell considerably below the relevant wholesale price cap index. For more information about the MSC read - Market Stabilisation Charge dashboard | Ofgem. 

See Prices and Profits.

In August 2026, total number of switches decreased slightly by an average of 2.1% across both fuels compared with July 2026. 

The proportion of customers switching to other suppliers (dual fuel) remained high at 54% in August 2026. While net switching to other suppliers decreased by 2.6% for electricity and 7.7% for gas compared with July 2026, net gains remained strong overall. This suggests that customers continued to switch towards other large, medium and small suppliers, despite a modest month-on-month decline in net gains.

Suppliers’ Customer Credit Balances (CCBs) are an important aspect of the retail energy market, and this is reflected in licence obligations in relation to both consumer standards and supplier financial resilience.

The data below reflects Ofgem's chosen policy measure. This is for Fixed Direct Debit domestic customers.  This focuses the analysis on how households are impacted by CCBs. We have ‘netted off unbilled consumption’ meaning that energy you have paid for but not used does not feature. Finally, as Customer credit balances are seasonal (they rise in summer months and are then spent in colder winter months) we have included the yearly average to disaggregate the seasonal variation from its underlying trend.

These figures reflect households that are in credit, the values are true as of the last day of each calendar quarter (31 March, 30 June, 30 September 31 December).

Finally, the use of quartiles may be impacted as usage changes in the future, which would need to be reviewed and recognised.

This data is published by the end of March, June, September and December each year.  For further information see customer credit balances explanatory note.

We have selected this range of indicators to support general understanding of the market, including how they contribute to the key priorities outlined in our strategic narrative. We also aim to provide a picture of the market where it is not produced elsewhere, or where there is scope for us to set a clear methodology for the data.

Our data comes from sources that are either publicly available, provided by third parties or from responses to Ofgem information requests. Specific sources and relevant dates are listed with each indicator. We are grateful to third parties for allowing us to reproduce their data. 

Most of these indicators will be updated quarterly while still allowing access to historic information. Updates will depend on the availability of data for an indicator. 

We will review the indicators periodically to ensure they continue to help promote transparency and understanding of the retail energy market and as additional sources of information become available.